Hi all,

Thanks for the warm welcome. I'm in Canada, and am fortunate that I live in Ottawa which has a really great cancer clinic (CCC I think is the acronym you guys are using). Downside for me is that my mom passed away after a two year war with lung cancer - so sitting in the same waiting room was hard, and that I'll spend more time there isn't that enjoyable.

My hope is that this has not spread to the lymph nodes, but reading some of what is posted on the boards is making me concerned about not going ahead with a neck dissection and removing them now, since I know that the cancer has been there for a while.

The oncologist did mention the possibility of a neck dissection, but said that they generally do it, even if the CT scan is normal, if the area is larger than 4cm and mine is 3cm (sorry for the metric my American friends...). Again, awaiting the CT scan, but the hope is that this is a T1M0N0, which is, of course, my hope as well.

Plus, even though an oral surgeon 'tried' to remove the tumours on Jan. 27th, one has come right back with a vengeance. I wonder if the surgery 'stirred' up the pot, and I wonder what part stress has to play in getting cancer.

I have to be honest, the more I read, the more freaked out I get. And, the HPV issue has not been mentioned by anyone to me, something to put in my book of questions!

Gosh, I'm sorry, I'm not even sure this was a coherent reply... Just a note to say thanks for the kind words, and good to see so many survivors out there.